Mark R. Showalter Explained

Mark R. Showalter
Birth Name:Mark Robert Showalter
Birth Date:December 5, 1957
Birth Place:Abington, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Nationality:American
Alma Mater:Oberlin College (B.A.); Cornell University (M.Sc.), (Ph.D.)
Field:Astronomy, astrophysics, space science, planetary science
Work Institutions:SETI Institute
Known For:Discoverer or co-discoverer of Jovian gossamer ring, Saturnian moon Pan, Uranian moons Mab and Cupid, Uranian rings μ and ν, Neptunian moon Hippocamp, Plutonian moons Kerberos and Styx
Spouse:Frank Yellin

Mark Robert Showalter (born December 5, 1957) is a senior research scientist at the SETI Institute.[1] He is the discoverer of six moons and three planetary rings. He is the Principal Investigator of NASA's Planetary Data System Rings Node, a co-investigator on the Cassini–Huygens mission to Saturn, and works closely with the New Horizons mission to Pluto.[2]

Biography

Showalter was born in Abington, Pennsylvania. He enjoyed playing with science-themed toys while a child, and later mowed lawns as a teenager so that he might purchase a telescope in high school. He received a Bachelor of Arts in physics and mathematics from Oberlin College in 1979. He was initially undecided about pursuing a career in astronomy after his undergraduate education, but made up his mind after seeing the images of Jupiter sent back to Earth by Voyager 2.[3]

Showalter received his MS in astronomy from Cornell University in 1982, and his PhD from Cornell in 1985.[4] His thesis was on Jupiter's ring system, in which he discovered the gossamer ring of Jupiter.[5]

In 1990, using ten-year-old Voyager data, Showalter discovered Pan, the eighteenth and innermost moon of Saturn. It orbits within and keeps open the Encke Gap in Saturn's rings via shepherding.[6] [7]

In 2003, Showalter and Jack J. Lissauer discovered two new moons of Uranus (Mab and Cupid) in Hubble Space Telescope images.[8] In 2006, they announced the discovery of two very faint rings, the μ and ν rings, within the same data.[9] [10]

In 2010, Showalter discovered that spiral vertical corrugations in Jupiter's rings were caused by the impact of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 in July 1994. A second smaller set of corrugations appear to be consistent with an unknown impact in early 1990. He and co-researchers also found similar spiral patterns in Saturn's D Ring.[11] [12] [13] [14]

Showalter has assisted the New Horizons team in determining what hazards the spacecraft would encounter as it flew close to Pluto. A search for faint dust rings of Pluto using the Hubble Space Telescope in 2011 led to the discovery of the fourth moon Kerberos.[15] Working with the New Horizons team, Showalter found the fifth moon Styx in July 2012.[16] [17]

On July 15, 2013, a team of astronomers led by Showalter discovered a previously unknown fourteenth moon of Neptune in images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope from 2004 to 2009. Unnamed at that time, Hippocamp is thought to measure around 34.8 km in diameter.[18]

Showalter was the 2021 recipient of the Harold Masursky Award for Meritorious Service to Planetary Science.[19]

The Mars-crossing asteroid 18499 Showalter is named after Dr. Showalter.

Personal life

Showalter is an avid scuba diver and photographer. He is married to Frank Yellin; they live in California.[20]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Boyle . Alan . Pluto's fifth moon discovered . . 2012-07-11 . 2012-07-16 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120715042657/http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/11/12683467-plutos-fifth-moon-discovered . 2012-07-15 .
  2. Web site: Mark Showalter's Home Page . Rings Node, NASA Planetary Data System . July 2012 . 2012-07-16 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080917215555/http://pds-rings.seti.org/showalter/ . 2008-09-17.
  3. Web site: Tanner . Steve . SETI Institute's Ring Leader . San Jose Business Journal . 2007-01-07 . 2012-07-16.
  4. Web site: Cornell University Department of Astronomy Ph.D. recipients . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120710183313/http://astro.cornell.edu/people/phds.php . 2012-07-10 .
  5. Showalter. Mark . Burns . Cuzzi . Pollack . Discovery of Jupiter's 'gossamer' ring. Nature. August 8, 1985. 316. 526–528. 1985Natur.316..526S . 10.1038/316526a0. 11536560 . 6028. 4281782 .
  6. Showalter. Mark R. Visual detection of 1981S13. Nature. 27 June 1991. 351. 709–73. 1991Natur.351..709S . 10.1038/351709a0. 6329. 4317496.
  7. Web site: Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature . International Astronomical Union Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature . . 2006-07-21 . 2012-07-16.
  8. Book: Blunck, Jürgen . Solar System Moons: Discovery and Mythology. Dordrecht . 2010 . 9783540688525 . 95.
  9. Showalter. Mark R. Lissauer. Science. 17 February 2006. 311. 973–977. 2006Sci...311..973S . 10.1126/science.1122882. 16373533. 5763. The second ring-moon system of Uranus: discovery and dynamics. 13240973. free.
  10. Book: Grün, Eberhard . Interplanetary Dust. limited. Springer . 2001 . 3540420673 . 668.
  11. Web site: Mason . J. . Cook, J.-R. C. . Forensic sleuthing ties ring ripples to impacts . CICLOPS press release . Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations . 2011-03-31 . 2011-04-04 . 2011-05-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110530095933/http://www.ciclops.org/view.php?id=6762 . dead .
  12. Web site: NASA . NASA . Subtle Ripples in Jupiter's Ring . PIA 13893 caption . NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech / SETI . 2011-03-31 . 2011-04-04 . 2014-04-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140419221526/http://www.ciclops.org/view/6760/Subtle_Ripples_in_Jupiters_Ring . dead .
  13. Showalter . M. R. . Hedman . M. M. . Burns . J. A. . The impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 sends ripples through the rings of Jupiter . . 332 . 6030. 711–3 . 2011 . 10.1126/science.1202241 . 2011Sci...332..711S . 21454755. 27371440 .
  14. Web site: Matson . John . A New Wrinkle: Comet Strikes in the 1980s and 1990s Left Ripples in Jupiter's and Saturn's Rings . Scientific American . 2011-03-31 . 2012-07-16.
  15. Web site: Showalter . M. R. . Hamilton, D. P.. New Satellite of (134340) Pluto: S/2011 (134340) 1. Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. International Astronomical Union. 2011-07-20 . 2011-07-20.
  16. Web site: Sanders. Ray. 11 July 2012. Hubble Space Telescope detects fifth moon of Pluto. Phys.org. 11 July 2012.
  17. Web site: Overbye. Dennis. 20 July 2012. Despite Downgrade, Pluto Adds to Entourage. New York Times. 2012-07-16.
  18. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/Neptunes-Newest-Moon-215535121.html Beatty, Kelly. "Neptune's Newest Moon." Sky and Telescope. July 15, 2013.
  19. Web site: Harold Masursky Award for Meritorious Service to Planetary Science . American Astronomical Society . 10 August 2021.
  20. Web site: Harvard-Radcliffe Class of 1980 - Class Notes. https://web.archive.org/web/20081225025702/http://classes.harvard.edu/olc/pub/HAA/college/notes.jsp?chapter=61. 25 December 2008.

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